August 10, 2015 UPDATE

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Roxana Vasile, 10.08.2015, 19:00

King Michael has withdrawn the title of “Prince of Romania” with the style of “Royal Highness” from his grandson Nicholas and has excluded him from the Line of Succession to the Crown of Romania, Bucharest sources announced on Monday. The Royal House writes in a communiqué the former sovereign made these decisions having in mind Romania in future times, after the reign and life of Princess Margaret, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, comes to an end. King Michael says the Royal Family and the Romanian society will need a well-balanced rule, placed under the auspices of modesty, guided by moral principles, respect and always keeping in mind the well being of others. Prince Nicholas was born on April 1st 1985, in Geneva, being the son of Princess Elena (one of the five daughters of king Michael) and Robin Leslie Medforth-Mills, a UN official. In 2010, king Michael granted Nicholas the title “Prince of Romania” with the style of “Royal Highness”. In 2007, according to the Fundamental Norms of the Royal Family of Romania, Prince Nicholas became third in line to the Crown of Romania. Forced by the communists to abdicate, king Michael, the last Romanian sovereign, went into exile in 1948. He settled in Switzerland and returned to Romania after the anti-communist Revolution of December 1989.

Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis would like Romania to be perceived according to its potential as a state. In a message posted on his Facebook page, the president says a powerful state is not an isolated one, but a country which enjoys the respect and trust of its partners, whose representatives communicate and are engaged in a permanent dialogue with their counterparts in order to build and develop common projects. Thus, Klaus Iohannis recalls that in the first months of his term in office as Romania’s president, he held talks with the presidents of France, Poland, Austria, Italy, Portugal, respectively, the German chancellor, the prime minister of Spain and the premier of Great Britain. The Romanian president pledges to further have such meetings with other leaders worldwide.

Romanians abroad must benefit from fundamental rights related to the preservation of their national identity, reads a message sent by the Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu to the participants in the Summer University in Izvoru Mureşului, which began on Monday. He emphasised that the measures promoted by Romania with respect to the national minorities on its territory, designed to help protect their ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity, ought to be adopted by the countries that host Romanian communities as well. For one week, la Izvoru Muresului is hosting representatives of the Romanian communities in the diaspora, MPs from Romania and the Republic of Moldova, as well as professors from the main universities in the country. The Romanian Cultural Institute, through the Directorate for Romanians Abroad, supports the participation in the event of 80 leaders of Romanian associations, notable personalities of the Romanian communities living abroad. The theme of this year’s edition is “Romania and the Romanians on the EU and NATO borders.”

The Romanian Foreign Ministry on Monday convened the chargé daffaires of the Hungarian Embassy in Bucharest, Nagy Karoly Zoltan, following a recent interview granted by ambassador Zakonyi Botond. The Romanian side has expressed its strong disagreement with the content of the declarations made by the ambassador on overall bilateral relations, which come to prove, once again, the fact that the Hungarian side is not ready yet to observe the general framework of bilateral relations and their political-juridical fundamentals. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has reiterated its firm appeal for the bilateral relations to be regarded with maximum responsibility, respecting the principle of good vicinity and the common status of EU and NATO member states. Bucharest has drawn attention, among others, to the fact that the declarations on a possible autonomy to be granted based on ethnic criteria in three counties located in central Romania, inhabited by a predominantly ethnic Hungarian population, are tantamount to an interference in the internal affairs of the country. Ethnic autonomy runs counter to Romania’s Constitution.

The European Commission on Monday approved the allocation of 2.4 billion Euros in the 2014-2020 period to support 19 countries, including Romania, to improve their capacity to receive refugees and secure their borders. The main beneficiaries, based on concrete projects, are Italy and Greece, which will receive 560 million and 480 million Euros, respectively. In turn, Romania will receive approximately 100 million Euros. On Friday, the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, pledged to take measures to improve structures and procedures to receive immigrants and refugees who arrive in large numbers in his country. According to the UN High Commissioner’s Office for Refugees, some 174,000 people arrived on the Greek islands alone, between January and July.

In Romania, the trade balance deficit reached 3.3 billion euros in the first 6 months of the year, up 441 million since the corresponding period of 2014, according to data released on Monday by the National Statistics Institute. Between January and June this year, Romania’s exports grew by 5.9% and the imports by 6.9%, compared to the same period last year. According to the National Statistics Institute, in the first six months of the year vehicles and transport equipment, as well as other manufactured goods, accounted for the largest part of both imports and exports.

In the next 24 hours Romania will be facing sweltering temperatures and the wave of extreme heat will be sweeping all regions of the country. The sky will be overcast only in places. Scarce rainfalls are expected in the mountains and the south-east. In most of the country farming areas have been affected by the lack of precipitations and navigation on River Danube is hindered, although not completely stuck in any of the Romanian sectors of the river.